Gettin His Mack On

Like most people, I spend my days off being lazy, then running errands at the last minute. I was grocery shopping when I spotted a deputy sheriff from an adjoining county working an extra job in the in-store bank. Not a bad extra job. Anyhow, I look at him again. I think I know this guy. In fact we once worked at the same department a long time ago. He had a reputation as a 'self described super-cop' who liked to get into messes. Anyhow, he got himself run off from the department for something so stupid. Well, years later I met a woman officer who is his ex wife. We became friends, lost touch, and ran into each other again on a call. Anyhow she's told me some horror stories.

Anyway, I'm watching the deputy talking to a lone woman trying to leave the store. It's apparent to me that he's hitting on her. Well, I don't begrudge anyone 'gettin they mack on' but it was funny knowing his history. I watched him walk her out of the store (which officers working at the bank usually don't do because that would be the ideal time to hit it-the bank, not the woman) and give her what I'm presuming was his phone number. Oh well, another small anecdote in the man-woman melodrama.

Reminded Me of My Wife

I thought it was a disturbance. Turned out it was a guy whose damn tire broke off his car and he was lucky enough to wheel it into his apartment entrance. Sadly the tire jammed in the frame keeping him from going any further, thus blocking the apartment entrance. Well, needless to say people were trying to get by and being the good people they are instead of understanding they got hostile. They were waiting on AAA which usually take too long. The only reason we joined them was for the hotel discounts for when we travel. Anyway, the AAA wrecker shows up, but it's a flat bed wrecker and unable to do the job. So then he tells the guy's wife (who came out to help him) she has to call AAA back and ask for another wrecker. We have cars backing up and almost crashing because people cannot use caution down that street. Another wrecker shows up, the right kind. The husband (driver of the car mind you) says "to hell with it" and asks the wrecker how much to hook it up and move it inside the complex. The wrecker quotes him $50. Well, that's a little pricey, but he is tired of being yelled at and stuck outside so he agrees. His wife explodes. He is telling the wrecker to hook up, she is saying no. He tells the wrecker to hook up his car and he'll pay the $50. His wife starts shouting at him that he's being stupid. He's telling her not to worry about it, he'll handle it. This is the old difference between men and women here. He is being logical. He knows the problem, he knows the solution. In this case he has traffic, and angry drivers breathing down his neck. In order to reach the solution he has to swallow a bitter pill for now. Now, she's pissed because they pay for AAA service, and doesn't feel it's right to have to pay $50 and she doesn't care that other people are breathing down their necks. She feels she is right in refusing the other wrecker and criticizes him for disagreeing with her. I saw my wife in her. He finally tells her to get back in her car (and away from him). I walk up to him and ask how long he's been married. He says six years, the same as me. He utters some days he thinks twice about it. I think he was just upset that she was criticizing him instead of backing him. I told him it's all part of the man-woman melodrama. I go to her and ask her to take it easy on him, he's just trying to end an unpleasant ordeal and yes, $50 is a bitter pill to swallow but it's not the end of the world. See, logic vs. emotion.

Christmas Day

Well I hope everyone had a good Christmas. I was drained. I didn't sleep much that night. In fact I think I may have had a total of four hours sleep. Well, I wake up, shower, and go to my parents' house to open presents, visit, and eat. I go into work and I was expecting a slow day. We found an IHOP that was open. I was drained all through dinner. It reminded of my days on night shift when I would drag ass into an IHOP (or Denny's) at 4am. Their coffee wouldn't make me up and after leaving with a full belly my body wanted to lay down and go to bed. Kind of difficult when I still have two hours left to patrol. Anyway, I'm cruising down the street when an accident call drops over the radio. I get there right behind the ambulance. I size up the scene. Two cars damaged, one woman on the curb smoking a cigarette saying she's nervous. My spider senses kick in. I listen to her as she talks to the medics. I'm thinking in the back of my mind this woman is drunk and is trying to hide it. She says she wants to go the hospital. Well, that is going to hamper sobriety tests. Well, maybe since she hit a parked car and the only person involved is herself, then perhaps we could just work the accident, show she was at fault. We can even add that she 'had been drinking' (which insurance companies don't like) but not enough to make a DWI case on her. Well, she stumbles to the ambulance where I interview her. She admits to being on a dozen psychiatric medications and along with beer and patron. She's an idiot. I'm rolling my eyes, so are the paramedics. Well, while I'm gathering information people come up to us and tell us they pulled her out of the car and she said she was drunk. Well, there goes that earlier possibility. Now we're going the full nine yards. Long story short, she went to the hospital, then went to jail for drunk driving. She ended her Christmas in jail. What a rocket scientist. As I was leaving for the day I heard another officer calling out on another crash scene for traffic control. Right before I turned off the radio I heard him say "it's a double fatality!" Oh no! Two people ended their Christmas dead. I learned the next day they were killed by a drunk, 16 year old girl. I sure hope her life is over.

Christmas Eve

Well normally one would expect a slow Christmas Eve and Day. Yet since we're in the fourth largest metroplex in the country our share of fools will act up. Well here is a summary of what happened today;

A drunk hit another car in a parking lot. He didn't do any damage, but he went to jail for drunk driving. What kind of ignorant fool gets arrested on Christmas Eve?

Another drunk decides to stalk his ex-girlfriend. She wants nothing to do with him but he takes a cab from the other side of town and stands in her driveway. We find him in a nearby store. He's on bond for drunk driving, and walking around drunk. So, he too gets arrested and spends Christmas Eve in jail.

A woman was with her family, 3 kids, and an elderly deaf man. Two thugs carjacked her with knives and took off in her van with the kids and the elderly man. They let the man out on the other side of town. No word on the kids.

For a 30 minute span, assault calls dropping in the west side of town. In one incident, a brother grabs a bat and goes to swinging on family members. Some people!!!!

A Story I Heard

Officers were called to a house alarm. They arrive to find the door open. So, they draw their guns and go inside to check the house. Well, unbeknownst to the officers (and to the home owner) some friends entered the house setting off the alarm. They were planning a surprise birthday party. Well, they are hiding when the officers come in with their guns at ready. Suddenly, people jump up shouting "surprise" to find themselves staring down the barrel of guns. Well, the people got upset and a supervisor had to make the scene. Now, I don't know what the supervisor said but I know what I would have said. I would have told them it's their own damn fault! You don't sneak into some one's house and jump out shouting 'surprise' to a bunch of nervous cops and get upset at their reaction. Talk about morons!

Thursday, December 18, 2008

Well, a lot of internal drama. I don't feel comfortable posting it openly here (although I may privately email it). Let's just say the more things change the more they stay the same. Well there were a couple of exciting events. One officer stopped a woman who practically threw her license at him screaming at him. Yeah, she has problems. Well, she also had a warrant. Nothing better than when a smart ass motorist has a warrant for their arrest.

***One time, I stopped a guy for speeding. I was using a hand held radar that didn't hold a charge very well. So, I would turn it on, use it, then get a speeder and turn it off. I stopped him and right off the bat he was an a**hole. He demanded to see my radar because "it was his legal right!" Well, that's a myth. Police don't have to show radars, only stupid people, and lawyers think that. Well, I ran him and found a traffic warrant for his arrest. Normally I wouldn't bother with it. However, since he wants to run his mouth okay. I confirm the warrant, and go to him and bring him back to my car telling him he will see my radar. I also had the warrant information on my computer. So, I bring him back to my car and show him the hand held radar. He looks incredulously at me since it is turned off. I then ask him to read the computer. He sees his name and asks what that means. I inform him he has a warrant and he's under arrest as I slap cuffs on him. He regretted opening his mouth then.***

Anyhow, he goes to arrest her for the warrant and she takes off. By the time he gets back into his car and goes looking she's already disappeared. Well, that dumb bitch got away today. However aside from the original minor traffic warrant she had, she now has a felony warrant and it won't go away. Sooner or later her dumb ass will get caught.

At the end of the shift, an officer goes to a family disturbance. When she yelled for back up I could tell all hell was about to break lose. Sure enough she gets on the air screaming. She's fighting. Of course I'm on the other side of town and can only wait for the units in her area to get to her. The cavalry finally arrives and things get under control. She goes to the hospital complaining of hand and leg pain. She probably over exerted herself but she will be okay. The two punk asses who were fighting to start with will spend the night in jail.

Stupid!

Thugs are dumb as hell. Not to mention careless. This guy is out, cruising with warrants. Well, he decides to make a turn and cut off a police officer almost hitting her. So, she stops him and arrests him for the warrant. The stupidity of some people never cease to amaze me!

Swing batta batta swing!

Sometimes things don't as planned. We went to a welfare check. Neighbors hadn't seen an elderly man who lives alone for months. He's kind of a hermit, no known family or friends and keeps to himself pretty much. I get there and find mail stacked in his mail box and newspapers stacked on the porch. There is a past due payment notice on his door. I've met him before. I gave him a ride home one night when his truck broke down. The last time anyone saw him, he wasn't feeling well. All the classic signs of a dead body inside the house. I check the doors and windows and they are all locked. I find a back door with frames cut into it for a window. Well, I figured breaking out one pane of glass and reaching in to unlock the door is the easiest, and less intrusive method of getting into the home. I take my baton, take aim, and whack! Nothing except a loud noise. Whack! Whack! Whack! G dammit this glass isn't breaking like it's supposed to! Plus, now I have neighbors peeking over the fence to see what the noise is. Fortunately word has spread and everyone else thinks the resident is dead inside as well. I reposition myself like Babe Ruth and take another whack at the pane. Well, instead of the single pane shattering, the entire window, all panes, shatter. Oops! Well so much for less intrusive. I clear out the glass so as not to get cut reaching in only to discover another pane! Oh damn! Storm door! Well, I've come this far. I finally shatter the second pane and open the door. A rotten smell drifts outward. I'm sure of it, someone is dead inside here. We go inside, announce ourselves as police and look at all the trash. There were literally hundreds of liquor bottles, beer cases, soda cans, food containers still half full littered everywhere. It was impossible to even walk in the kitchen. It was covered in litter about four feet high. We check the house, nobody. Literally I mean nobody. I did find some sh** stained paints and underwear and a clump of human hair in a sink. Well, only God knows where he is. So all I can do now is leave a case number, my name, and a claims form to replace the door that I broke and write a nice report explaining why I destroyed a thousand dollar door. Oh well, if/when he comes home and finds his door destroyed hopefully he will be understanding.

"Whatcha gonna do now?"

This is the thuggish mentality that always pisses me off. Two vehicles are stuck in traffic. One vehicle honks at another. The driver who got honked at gets upset, has a bruised ego and wounded pride. So, he follows the other vehicle until they get stuck at an intersection. He then gets out of his car with a gun and taps on the window, aims the gun at the man and his kids and goes to repairing his damaged ego.

"Whatcha gonna do now? Huh? I say what? Whatcha gonna do now?"

He then leaves satisfied that he's still a man. The victim follows him and happens to pass one of my fellow officers and flags her down. They stop the guy and arrest him. He had no criminal record until now. This is the kind of mentality we inadvertently nurture.

"Don't mind my mom, she's 30!"

I drive up to a three car accident at an intersection. One of the drivers involved was a suburban mother with her kids with her. Off the bat her oldest daughter, probably about 8 or 9 years old is hopping around. She's asking "is someone going to jail?" "We were scared!" and "Wow!" Well, I asked for her driver's license and she had to return to the car to get it. The little girl then says "don't mind my mom, she's 30!" I could only shake my head. I'm 33, what would that child think of me?

Oh please grab that knife again

An illegal alien got upset with his live in girlfriend. So, he beats her up really badly. He then takes her little tiny chihuahua and slits the poor thing's throat and throws it onto the roof of her house. The sight of that poor dead dog, ohhhhh that infuriated me. We found him as his mom's house. Typical punk. He comes in kicks in the door, beats her up, kills her dog, and runs to momma's house. This guy is a coward. I guessed he wouldn't even put up a fight because he knows he can bully a woman and a small dog, but another man he knows would wipe the concrete with him. The mother lets us in the house and there he is. He has this 'deer in the headlight' look. I tell him to get on his knees. He just stares. So I repeat "de rodillas!" He immediately complies and throws his hands up. Just like I thought, a coward. He knows what will happen if he thinks he's going to pull a knife on me.